My final project will be a construction kit that is embedded in sensors such that a virtual model is constructed in real-time as you are building the physical model.

I have been working torwards this final project for the majority of the class, so many of the pieces are already there. However, there is a good deal of detail work that needs to be completed:

FIGURE 1: A construction kit that generates a 3D model. Plan to make 10!
FIGURE 2: Can the size of the pieces be halved?FIGURE 3: Addition of a new piece that can lead to a more generative construction kit

PRIOR WORK

I already did a pretty thorough summary of prior work during week 4, but I will summarize again here:

There are many examples of smart building blocks, including the following:

The Tangible Programming Bricks each contain an 18 pin PIC and creates connections between blocks using a female connector on the top of the brick (metal pads on a PCB) and a male connector on the bottom (a JST-ICC). It has several LEDs embedded in the brick used for debugging.

Triangles are a set of tangible pieces that are connected using magnetic hinges. CAD models of the Triangles' configuration are rendered in real-time. However, the triangle pieces are quite large and require a significant amount of hardware for each piece.

Triangles

Activecube is a system that uses large bricks that sense their connections using IR sensors. ID numbers are assigned to each face of the cube to identify its connected face. Similar to Triangles, Activecube is limited by its size and limited number of pieces.

Posey is a ball and strut construction kit used to generate 3D virtual models for applications such as chemical modeling and storytelling.

Why my project is different

My goal is to create many smaller pieces that are cheap to manufacture (other toolkits use too few pieces, each being very expensive).

My focus is on design process, not product. The software will enable users to play back their design and send their design to others.